Water-spray laundry irons



1967 M. M. A. TROUILHET WATER-SPRAY LAUNDRY IRONS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 nvvs'NTon MAumcE MAR/E ACHILLE Fwu/LHET ATTOI? svs Filed Nov. 29, 1966 O t 3. 1967 M. M. A. TROUILHET 3,344,541

WATER-SPRAY LAUNDRY IRONS Filed Nov. 29, 1966 4 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 /NvE-ToF? MAURICE MA 915 AcHlLLE'l'kou/L H57 United States Patent 3,344,541 WATER-SPRAY LAUNDRY IRONS Maurice Marie Achille Trouiiliet, Lyon, France, assignor to Calor Appareils Electro-Domestiques, Lyon, France, a company of France Filed Nov. 29, 1966, Ser. No. 597,682 Claims priority, application France, Dec. 6, 1965,

41, 2 Claims. (Cl. 38-78) ABSTRACT on THE DISCLOSURE of great length capable of being bent to fit in the iron' handle and connecting said cylinder to said stationary nozzle.

So-called steam laundry irons are well known nowadays. In irons of this type water contained in a reservoir is converted in a suitable manner into steam released through orifices formed in the shoe plate used for ironing.

However, the humidification thus obtained of the materials to be ironed is still regarded as unsatisfactory for certain textile materials require a real sprinkling of water to be properly ironed. Therefore, laundry irons have already been proposed which incorporate water spray means in the form of a small pump housed in general within the iron handle and adapted to draw water from the reservoir and spray this water in the form of fine atomized droplets to the front of the iron.

These atomizing devices consist as a rule of a conventional pump body, assembled by a rigid pipe member and welded to a spray nozzle. A valve is arranged in the lower portion of the pump body for drawing water and another valve is disposed just before the spray nozzle for delivering the water spray.

In all cases the piston consists of a simple cylindrical rod having at one end a packing engaging the inner wall of the pump body, this rod being adapted to be'depressed by means of a push-button overlying the iron handle.

It is the object of this invention to provide improvements in a laundry iron of this type, that is, comprising a device foratornizing water drawn from a suction duct communicating with a reservoir housed in the iron, and from a pump comprising a piston slidably mounted in a cylinder constituting the pump body, said piston forming in said cylinder a variable volume chamber, a first water retaining valve adapted to be opened when water is drawn and preventing the water from returning to said reservoir during the delivery stroke of said piston, a second valve adapted to open during the atomization of the water expelled from the pump through a nozzle-forming member disposed for example at the front end of the iron, said second valve preventing air from being sucked in simultaneously with the water drawn from the reservoir. A laundry iron according to the present invention is remarkable notably in that the cylinder constituting the pump body is moulded integrally and communicates with, a duct of relatively small cross-sectional passage area connecting said cylinder to said fixed nozzle mounted in the iron handle.

According to another feature characterizing this invention the aforesaid water suction duct is formed integrally with said cylinder and said duct.

According to a further feature of this invention the piston is made of plastic material and solid with a control rod, and comprises an annular piston ring or packing. Resilient return means are associated with said piston. These features simplify considerably the construction of the iron and its water-spray device, while warranting a much more reliable operation thereof. More particularly, the piston-forming packing fitted in the pump body of prior art structures was liable to very rapid wear, ageing and hardening. Under these conditions, the operation of the water-spray device rapidly became unsatisfactory. With the improvements of the present invention inconveniences of this character are definitely avoided.

Other features and advantages of the invention will ap pear as the following detailed description proceeds with reference to the attached drawings given by way of example only and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic view showing the manner in which the water-spray device of this invention is mounted in the handle of a laundry iron;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view with parts broken away, showing on a larger scale the water-spray device shown in diagrammatic form in FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 is another sectional view with parts broken away showing a modified form of embodiment of the water-spray device of this invention.

Reference will firstly be made to FIGURE 1 of the drawings. In the form of embodiment shown diagrammatically in this figure a laundry iron 1 comprises essentially an ironing shoe plate 2, a casing 3 and a handle 4 overlying the casing. In the casing 3 all the conventional component elements of a laundry iron are housed. Thus, under the casing 3 is more particularly a reservoir 5 adapted to be filled with water. In other words, a suitable water-vaporizing device (not shown) is provided as well as duct means adapted to direct the water steam to suitable locations of the shoe plate 2.

Housed in the iron handle 4 is a water atomizing device 6 constituting the subject-matter of this invention. This device comprises essentially a piston 7 movable in a cylin der 8 constituting a pump body housed in a suitable portion of the handle 4; a control push-button 9 is rigid with the rod 10 of piston 7; a pipe line 11 solid with cylinder 8 connects the chamber 49 formed between the lower face of piston 7 and the bottom of cylinder 8 to an expanded end portion 12 of the pipe line 11, which has suitably mounted therein the nozzle 13 for spraying water to the front of the iron. A pipe 14 for drawing water from the reservoir 5 connects the chamber 49 to said reservoir.

Referring now to FIGURE 2 of the drawings, the construction of the water-spray device 6 is shown more in detail. The pump body 8, the pipe line 11 and the expanded front end 12 thereof are moulded integrally from a suitable flexible thermoplastic material, whereby the pipe line 11 can conveniently be bent, as shown in FIG- URE 1, to fit same at the desired location in the iron handle. This member and more particularly the expanded portion '12 thereof is moulded by using a rod forming the bore of pipe line 11 and emerging during the moulding operation from the aforesaid portion 12 through an orifice 15 in axial alignment with the bore 11a of said pipe line. After the stripping operation, the orifice 15 is suitably closed by means of a plug 16. The expanded portion 12 further comprises a tapped hole 17 adapted to receive the nozzle 13. A suitable slot or notch 18 provides the communication between the bore 11a and the tapped hole 17.

The bottom of chamber 49, or in other words of the pump cylinder or body 8, has a frustoconical valve seat 19 formed therein which is adapted to be closed by a ball valve 20 acting as a non-return valve preventing the return of water through said pipe line 14 into the reservoir 5. A spring 21 may if desired be used for urging the ball 20 more rapidly against its seat 19. The piston 7 comprises a groove 22 adapted to receive a piston ring or packing 23. At its upper portion the pump body 8 is closed by a cap 24 cemented or otherwise attached to the adjacent wall of cylinder 8. This cap 24 has a central orifice 25 formed therein to permit the passage of the piston rod 10. A compression coil spring 26 urges the piston 7 upwards when the users pressure on the push-button 9 in the direction of the arrow F is released. The piston rod 10 is suitably attached to the push-button 9 for example by fitting, screwing or cementing.

The spray nozzle 13 may consist of several parts adequately assembled to each other for example by cementing or gluing. The nozzle 13 thus comprises in succession a main cylindrical body 27, a spray-water outlet grid 28 and a socket 29 for mounting the grid 28 in the nozzle body 27. Mounted in the body 27 and engaging said grid 28 is a member 30 constituting an end cup receiving one end of a coil compression spring 31 constantly urging with its opposite end another ball valve 32 against its seat 33 to close the access to the bore 13a of nozzle 13. The body 27 comprises a small flange 34 whereby, when screwing the nozzle 13 into the expanded pipe end portion 12, the nozzle 13 and said expanded portion 12 are firmly secured to the wall of handle 4 about the orifice provided for the passage of the screw-threaded end portion or nozzle 13, the handle wall being thus clamped between said flange 34 and a suitable face 35 of said expanded portion 12.

The assembly 6 thus obtained is simply housed in the handle 4, in recesses suitably provided to this end. The position of the assembly is obtained notably by force fiting the pump body 8 and the reservoir pipe 14 into a cavity provided to this end in the handle. Possibly, the pump body 8 may be secured for example by cementing or gluing in the handle 4.

The operation of the device described hereinabove is easily understood from the drawings.

Assuming firstly that the atomizing device is still unprimed when the user depresses in the direction of the arrow F the push-button 9 accessible at the top of handle 4, the air contained in the device is exhausted through the nozzle 13, as the ball valve 32 normally engaging its seat 33 is open against the force of spring 31 while the other ball valve 20 is urged against its seat 19 and therefore remains closed, thus preventing the ingress of air into the reservoir 5. As the user releases the push-button 9 the latter rises under the action of the return spring 26. As the volume of chamber 49 increases, the ball valve remaining seated at 33, no air can enter the device through the nozzle 13; the other ball valve 20 is unseated against the compressive force of spring 21 (which is relatively weak) since the piston 7 has risen in the cylinder 8. Water from reservoir 5 is thus allowed to flow into the chamber 49 through the pipe 14. When the user repeats the depression of the control push-button 9 in the direction F, valve 19-20 being closed, the water contained in chamber 49 is forced out through the outlet nozzle '13, the spring 31 being slightly compressed and ball valve 32 unseated. Under these conditions the device is primed and will op-' erate each time the user exerts a pumping action.

In the modified form of embodiment illustrated in FIG- URE 3 wherein the same reference numerals designate similar parts of the device shown in FIGURE 2, the spring 21 for seating the ball valve 20 is omitted. The essential difference between the devices of FIGURES 2 and 3 resides in the substitution of stiffer, or completely rigid, parts obtained by moulding the pump body 8 and pipe line 14, for the relatively slender and flexible pipe line 11 connecting the nozzle 13 to the pump body 8 in FIG- URE 2. Thus, for instance, the device 6 of FIGURE 2 may advantageously consist of thermoplastic resin capable of withstanding only the action of hot or boiling water, and the device 60 of FIGURE 3 may advantageously consist of thermoplastic resin or preferably of thermosetting resin. The one-piece moulding of the pump body 8 and duct 14 of the expanded end portion 12 and of sections 36, 37 and 38 connecting the expanded portion 12 to the pump body 8 is permitted by the provision of orifices 36a, 37a and 38a in the various connecting sections 36 to 38. Upon completion of the moulding and mould stripping operations these orifices 39 to 41 are closed by means of adequate plugs 42 to 44.

The manufacture of this device 60 is obviously extremely simple.

It is clear that the device 60 operates in the same manner as the device 6 described hereinabove.

Of course, this invention should not be construed as being limited by the specific forms of embodiment shown and described herein which are given by Way of example, since many modifications and variations may be brought thereto without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. Laundry iron of the type including a device for atomizing water by means of a pump from a water suction duct communicating with a reservoir housed in the iron and for projecting said water through a stationary nozzle located at the front of the iron handle, said pump comprising a cylinder which is substantially vertically housed in said iron above said reservoir, a piston reciprocably movable in said cylinder, a rod, said piston being solid with said rod, a push-button actuatable from the top of the iron handle, the upper end of said rod being rigid with said button, said piston forming in said cylinder a chamber of variable volume, said chamber having in the vicinity of one of its ends two orifices, the first one communicating with a first duct of reduced section connected to said reservoir, a first water-retaining valve for obturating said first duct and opening for drawing water into said chamber through said first duct which is connected to said reservoir and preventing it from being forced back into said reservoir, and the second orifice communicating with a second duct of reduced section leading into said nozzle, a second valve at the outlet of said nozzle opening for ejecting water out of said nozzle during the atomization of the water and shutting for preventing suction of air during the suction of water into said chamber from said reservoir and wherein said cylinder, said first duct and said second duct are moulded as an integral unit from a flexible synthetic material, said second duct being of great length and capable of being bent to fit in the iron handle.

2. Laundry iron according to claim 1, wherein said flex: ible synthetic material is a thermoplastic resin.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,180,523 11/1939 Horton 3878 3,038,269 6/1962 Knapp 3877 3,129,523 4/1964 Taylor 3878 3,287,837 11/1966 Franklin 3877 PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner. 

1. LAUNDRY IRON OF THE TYPE INCLUDING A DEVICE FOR ATOMIZING WATER BY MEANS OF A PUMP FROM A WATER SUCTION DUCT COMMUNICATING WITH A RESERVOIR HOUSED IN THE IRON AND FOR PROJECTING SAID WATER THROUGH A STATIONARY NOZZLE LOCATED AT THE FRONT OF THE IRON HANDLE, SAID PUMP COMPRISING A CYLINDER WHICH IS SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICALLY HOUSED IN SAID IRON ABOVE SAID RESERVOIR, A PISTON RECIPROCABLY MOVABLE IN SAID CYLINDER, A ROD, SAID PISTON BEING SOLID WITH SAID ROD, A PUSH-BUTTON ACTUATABLE FROM THE TOP OF THE IRON HANDLE, THE UPPER END OF SAID ROD BEING RIGID WITH SAID BUTTON, SAID PISTON FORMING IN SAID CYLINDER A CHAMBER OF VARIABLE VOLUME, SAID CHAMBER HAVING IN THE VICINITY OF ONE OF ITS ENDS TWO ORIFICES, THE FIRST ONE COMMUNICATING WITH A FIRST DUCT OF REDUCED SECTION CONNECTED TO SAID RESERVOIR, A FIRST WATER-RETAINING VALVE FOR OBTURATING SAID FIRST DUCT AND OPENING FOR DRAWING WATER INTO 